Since 11th February, 1961, United Nations backed referendum merged the British administered Cameroon with the French speaking Cameroon. Since then, it has been a marriage of an uneasy calm. Omonu Nelson examines the issues in contention in Cameroon’s succession debacle.  The decision by Southern Cameroon to join their Francophone counterparts in a UN sponsored referendum in 1961, was to promote their interests. However, 57 years down-the-line, the union appears to be more problematic than the expected prosperity. Statements from Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, a body, formed as an umbrella organisation of all Southern Cameroons liberations put the number of Southern Cameroon refugees in Nigeria at 40,000. The disenchantment that follows the Francophone Cameroon brazing marginalisation of their Southern counterparts have since heightened the succession agitation. The demand of the Southern Cameroonian is simple, “We want the restoration of Independence and Sovereignty of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) according to UN Resolutions and Articles.” The response or handling of the Southern Cameroons demand by the Paul Biya led Yaounde Administration have degenerated the crisis that has caused 40,000 inhabitants of English-speaking Cameroons to flee to Nigeria.

The Spokesperson for SCNC, Chris Anu has also claimed that, 12 of its leaders were arrested by the Nigerian authorities. Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, Mr Chris Anu appealed to the Nigerian government to release the 12 ‘secessionist’ leaders arrested on January 5, 2018 by security operatives in Abuja. The group leads a movement for an independent Ambazonia State, which seeks to break away from the domination of the French-speaking Cameroon. Most leaders of the movement have since fled to neighbouring countries including Nigeria amidst a clampdown by the central government led by President Paul Biya. Mr Chris Anu said “The arrest is a reckless violation of international human rights as they have not been accused of committing any crime in Nigeria. Since their arrest,  the movement leaders have been held incommunicado and were denied access to their lawyers and families. He said they were arrested while planning a meeting on the situation of about 40,000 Southern Cameroonians refugees in Nigeria, who he said were still trooping into the country. “We are appealing to the government of Muhammadu Buhari to let our leaders go. They did not commit a crime and have not been accused of any. What is being done is a disservice to their wives and children to keep them under lock and key as if they were criminals,” he said.

According to him, majority of those arrested are not just ordinary citizens of Southern Cameroons, they are intellectuals, professors and lawyers, some of whom, he said, have dual citizenship of Nigeria and Cameroon. Anu also denied the claims that the arrested leaders are secessionists. “Our leaders arrested on January 5, are not Cameroonians. They are Southern Cameroonians. Southern Cameroons have never been part of French-speaking Cameroon. That is why we say we are not separatists. You can only separate from something you have been part of, and not something you have not been part of,” he added. Also speaking, the legal representative of the Southern Cameroonians, Barrister Abdul Oroh, said the Nigerian government should charge them to court,  if it feels they have committed any offence. “If you think they have committed any offence in Nigeria that warrants them to be prosecuted, take them to court and then we will take it from there. “What is unfolding in Southern Cameroon is a genocide at its early stage…Our concern is that the arrested leaders may be deported to Cameroon. This will mean death for them,” he said. “Our worry is their liberty, their fundamental right to freedom of association as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution, African Union Charter and the United Nations Convention.

“The issue they are campaigning for can be debated but what cannot be debated is their right to freedom of association,” he said. However, the Nigerian Police Force, NPF,  has justified it’s arrest of the leaders of Cameroon’s Separatist Movement. The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood explained that, the men were arrested within Nigeria’s territory because they flouted the nation’s laws by operating training camps in Nigeria. Investigations revealed that members of the Southern Cameroon’s Secessionist group, who are agitating for an independent state were arrested in both Taraba and Cross River states. The two states have boundaries with the Southern parts of Cameroon hence there is easy access to Nigeria. According to a Police source, “the government of Nigeria cannot be seen to be habouring separatists from a neighbouring Country like Cameroon when both countries are cooperating and jointly fighting to uproot Boko Haram terrorists. “Moreover, it is common knowledge that the federal government of Nigeria recently clamped down on the illegal activities of the IPOB (Independent Peoples of Biafra). So, how can the territory of Nigeria be used to train separatists to cause civil disobedience in such a friendly country.”

There were also indications that officials of Nigeria’s ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cameroon’s Embassy in Nigeria were already holding discussions over the arrest. Analysts are contending that the Cameroon crisis has remained malignant because of the way President Biya’s government is handling it. They contended that attempts to solve the problem with brut force have only worsen the already deplorable. A public Affairs analyst, Oyiza Abubakar opined that, the crisis in Southern Cameroon, if not carefully handled, could spell doom for Nigeria. “Nigeria is already overburdened by the by the ongoing war on terror, and it’s attendant consequence like huge refugee crisis, to add Southern Cameroon refugees to it will overstretch the Nigerian system. “Because of proximity, any escalation of violence, it is Nigeria that will bear the brunt. The safest thing for Nigeria to do, is to initiate a diplomatic move, aimed at nipping the crisis where it has reached.” For the Cross River State, who have been overburdened by the hosting of the ‘Bakassi returnees’ in the last few years, the latest addition of large chunk of the Southern Cameroon refugees is one weight too many.

Only recently, the state government provided food and non-food items to over 3,000 Southern Cameroonian refugees camping in Ikom Local Government Area of the state. The items included rice, plantain, beans, yam, garri, palm oil, cartons of indomie, toiletries and cooking utensils. Presenting the items, Governor Ben Ayade of the state disclosed that the intervention was to give succour for the hardship and displacement experienced by the refugees. Mr. Ayade, who was represented by Mercy Akpama, the Managing Director, Cross River Food Bank Commission, said that his administration places premium on the welfare of residents in the state. “I am aware of your pains and I am not relenting in my contacts with President Muhammadu Buhari and the international community to know that what is happening to you is not good before God and humanity.

“There is no greater pain like depriving a people of their ancestral homes and reducing them to wants in body and soul. “This passion has led me to bring food to you and soon I will build camps for you while waiting for my contacts to come to fruition in a bid to see you return to your ancestral homes. “I love you all and urge you to stay in peace with your hosts. Remain patriotic and obey the laws of the land. “I urge you to share these items in love for your suffering will not be for too long,’’ he said. The Director General of Cross River State Emergency Management Agency, John Inaku, told the refugees that the state governor was passionate about their plight. “We have your brothers and sisters in other locations as well, these items are for those of you in Ikom and I can assure you that the governor will also reach others soon,’’ he said. Mr. Inaku explained that drugs would also be provided soon to take care of the health needs of the refugees. “The governor will come with more things for you. Be law abiding; you are our brothers and sisters and we love you all,’’ he said. Abia David, Coordinator, Southern Cameroon refugees, lauded the government and people of the state for their concern, noting that the gesture was a sign of true love.

“A drop of water to a man who is very thirsty is a welcome development. We are appreciative of this gesture by Cross River state governor and it is a sign that he cares about our well-being,’’ he said Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, formed as an umbrella organisation of all Southern Cameroons liberation forces, has been championing the cause. Every Southern Cameroonian feels cheated as they are being treated as second class citizens in their own country. From the boiling tension that has grown from several years of anger, and, having been exploited, avenues for redress, through dialogue and peaceful means has failed.

The Southern Cameroons Problem is an issue of marginalisation, subjugation and attempts at assimilation of Southern Cameroonians by successive Francophone (French Cameroon) regimes in the Cameroons. lt is a minority problem akin to that which Namibia, Eritrea and East Timor had before their respective independence. The Southern Cameroons case being is, however, more concrete in that there is documented proof to the tact that the two nations [Southem Cameroons and French Cameroun] came together as two equal states and were to operate as such, but this has, since 1961, been disrespected with impunity by the latter which bas adopted the position of coloniser over the former. The Southern Cameroonians contend that, in accordance with a United Nations sponsored plebiscite in 1961, they voted to become independent by uniting with French Cameroon or La Republique du Cameroun.

According to the arrangement thereof, they united under a federal structure of two equal states. But beginning from Foumban where leaders of both states held talks on how to run the federation, and returned to consult their people, they were given a raw deal as the then leader of La Republique du Cameroun, Alhadji Ahmadou Ahidjo, went behind and decreed the existence of a Federal Republic of Cameroon, which was still under discussion, with himself as President. Since then, there has been sporadic resistance by the Anglophones to subjugation, especially under President Paul Biya who succeeded Ahidjo in 1982 and has treated the grievances of Southern Cameroonians with contempt and disdain.

The worst challenge and provocation to Southern Cameroonians was witnessed after the forceful reintroduction of democracy in 1990 by the Social Democratic Front, SDF party, led by a Southern Cameroonian, Ni John Fru Ndi. At the hurriedly organised or precipitated presidential election in October 1992, Fru Ndi clearly won, but was not allowed to become president Southern Cameroonians contend because he is not a Francophone or does not bail from La Republique du Cameroun. Francophones would, however, never understand when the Southern Cameroonians are complaining of the lack of freedom and marginalisation, because they [Francophone have never known freedom and self-determintion, integrity and the pride thereof While the Southern Cameroonian were taugbt self-rule and the British trusteeship, the French Cameroonian was being subjected into a kind of conversion into some sort of Frenchman-Cameroonian in a master-servant relationship.

https://leadership.ng

Panic has gripped Southern Cameroonians across the globe following a France24 brief report that the Ambazonian President, Julius Ayuk Tabe, and his cabinet had been flown to Cameroon in the early hours of Friday, January 26, 2018. The report adds that they were being held in a maximum-security facility in the nation’s capital, Yaounde. The report, however, does not provide any details that could have made the story credible.

There were no pictures, the name of the maximum-security facility was not provided, there were no analyses and no interviews have since been conductedto make the report credible. Besides, France24 has a correspondent on the ground in Yaounde and not even this correspondent has been interviewed after this announcement for some flesh to be added to the bare bones.

Furthermore, prior to the France24 report, another journalist, a Beti Fang  obscure journalist, Armand Ougock, who is a KOACI correspondent in Yaounde had also announced on Thursday that Mr. Ayuk Tabe and his team had arrived in Yaounde on Wednesday, January 25, 2018 at 9:30 pm Yaounde time. In his message, which the Cameroon Concord News Group has, he said that “ the flight transporting Mr. Ayuk Tabe and his team touched down in Yaounde at about 9:30 pm.”  Mr. Ougock’s information did not have any further details and but was high on speculations. He quoted security sources in Douala where the plane had transited and later contradicted himself by pointing out that not even the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma, had spoken about the incident.

He did not provide any sources which could be contacted or reached for further information and has reduced his report to mere speculation or a figment of his imagination. Like the France24 report, it was brief without the usual journalistic details that could have made it reliable. France24 could have simply fallen for cheap news and its reputation has been hurt. Such false reports are not rare in today’s world. Last week, it was reported that Pele, the iconic footballer, who brought immense glory to his native Brazil, had been rushed to a hospital following a heart and prostrate problem. The BBC had to debunk the information, advising that the 77-year-old football star was in his home resting.

How many times has the world been misinformed that former president Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe had died when he was in office? Even last week, the Web was awash with the false news that the Zimbabwean-style military takeover was playing out in Kinshasa where the Congolese strong-man had been blocked in his home. This turned out to be false. How many of us still remember the false French government that Adele MballaMballa of CRTV released when President Macron was still trying to put together a government during a newscast that earned her a long suspension? The web is a good place to obtain information, but the old journalism rule of verification and validation of news and its sources still stands despite the use of technologies of freedom which can deliver news to millions of readers in a split second.

Cameroon Concord News Group had analyzed Mr. Ougock’s piece on January 25 and had dismissedit as it did stand any serious journalistic scrutiny. While he talked about the plane landing in Douala and later heading to Yaounde at 9:30 pm, France24’s report talks of the early hours of Friday and did not also provide any details any fine journalistic piece should have. This looks like a contradiction as the same plane cannot land twice in Yaounde with the same group of people at two different times.

Furthermore, no other important network like the BBC, CNN and Aljazeera has reported the transfer of Anglophone leaders to Yaounde. Similarly, no Nigerian news papers or web sites have reported any such stories and France24 has not returned to the story to provide more details. Such a transfer will surely be the subject of multiple analyses by France24 specialists and other experts who would have helped to develop the one liner released by the French network.

Moreover, Ayuk Tabe and his team are considered high- profile suspects whose presence in Yaounde would have been the subject of gossiping and boastfulness. How possible is for such high-profile figures to be transferred and nobody will be aware both in Nigeria and Cameroon? It is usually a huge network of people involved in such undercover business and someone will surely leak that information to the press. Knowing how Cameroonian authorities are longing for news that will boost their egos and morale after their soldiers have been made to bite the dust in many Anglophone cities, such success will be celebrated to demonstrate that the head of state is an astute leader who is capable of the impossible. That is not yet seen in Yaounde and nobody is talking about that.

Similarly, when such higher profile suspects are brought to Yaounde, they are immediately taken to SED or CENER for questioning. In the process someone will at least notice their presence and will at least advise others. Today’s world is different. Secrets hardly exist. It will be preposterous to think that Nigeria will be extraditing American and Nigerian citizens to another country whose courts are known in the world to be Kangaroo courts. Besides, some of those arrested are refugees recognized by the United Nations and are protected by the Geneva Convention.

The Cameroon Concord News Group has been conducting its own investigation and has been speaking with some informed sources such as Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor Balla who has called for calm. He indicated that everything was pure speculation and that more light would be shed on the matter on Monday. He agreed that such an operation could not have taken place without anybody being aware. He added that he would continue calling his contacts to get more information on the matter.

Our West Africa Bureau chief in Abuja, Kingsley Betek, for his part, has since been working the phones to gather more information on the issue and has spoken with a Nigerian secret service officer who said he was not aware of such a transfer. He assured that if such a move would take place he would provide details to our Abuja-based correspondent. The officer, who elected anonymity, stressed that the issue of extradition was being complicated because there were Nigerian and American citizens involved, a point underscored by Mr. Milan Atam in a video message to fellow Ambazonians.

Mr. Atam castigated those peddling such false information, adding that such people were attention seekers whose cardinal objective is to derail the people’s focus and sow confusion. He branded them as “boys trying to play the role of men” adding that the issue was a diplomatic matter and diplomacy is usually conducted behind the scenes.

He reassured Ambazonians that everything was under control, adding that the Interim Government was permanently in touch with its high contacts in Nigeria. He underscored that such rumor was the handiwork of people seeking online popularity and relevance. He urged his fellow country men to shun such news peddlers to ensure they did not “sow confusion among us.”

This new story simply depicts how the Yaounde government is desperate for success and it is using all the wrong strategies to achieve this goal. The Southern Cameroons crisis cannot be addressed by arresting a few leaders. The revolution is an idea and holding that eliminating a few leaders will solve the problem is tantamount to self-delusion. Dialogue remains the main tool. Using it will spare many lives. The government must understand that it must meet Southern Cameroonian leaders halfway. Cameroon will never be the same no matter what and the fact that many army soldiers are defecting and deserting the army should advise the government that many young men are not willing to die for a government is being led by old men who have had their fair share of life.It is indeed too soon to be despondent. The extradition battle is long and it will take many months for a diplomatic and political solution to be reached.

By the editorial team with contributions from Kingsley Betek in Abuja, Nigeria.